The Body of Hector Recovered
A council of the gods—Thetis sent to make Achilles willing to restore the body of Hector to his friends—Iris sent to Priam, bidding him go in person to Achilles and ask for the body—Visit of Priam made by night to the tent of Achilles, who is moved by his entreaties and magnificent presents to deliver up the remains of his son—Departure of Priam by night with the body from the tent of Achilles—Lament of Andromache, Hector, and Helen over the dead—The funeral of Hector, with which the poem closes.
The assembly was dissolved, the people all Dispersed to their swift galleys, and prepared With food and gentle slumber to refresh Their wearied frames. But still Achilles wept, Remembering his dear comrade. Sleep, whose sway Is over all, came not; he turned and tossed, Still yearning for his strong and valiant friend Patroclus. All that they had ever done Together, all the hardships they had borne, The battles fought with heroes, the wild seas O’erpassed, came thronging on his memory. He shed warm tears, as now upon his sides, Now on his back, now on his face he lay. Then, starting from his couch, he wandered forth In sorrow by the margin of the deep. Nor did the morn that rose o’er sea and shore Dawn unperceived by him; for then he yoked His fleet steeds to the chariot, and made fast The corse of Hector, that it might be dragged After the wheels. Three times around the tomb Of Menoetiades he dragged the slain, Then turned and sought his tent, again to rest, And left him there stretched out amid the dust With the face downward. Yet Apollo, moved With pity for the hero, kept him free From soil or stain, though dead, and o’er him held The golden aegis, lest, when roughly dragged Along the ground, the body might be torn.